2-798-991 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The recent conflict at New Zealand - from a sketch by a correspondent, 1845. British troops try to subdue the indigenous Maori led by John Heki: '...he will not recognise their sovereignty, and denies their right to hoist their flag. He will not acknowledge the treaty of cession formerly concluded between some chiefs and the British Governor, because he asserts that it was extorted by fear or corruption...Heki, it is said, practises the precepts of Christianity as taught him. What is most curious, is the use which he makes against the English of the Bible which they taught him. He combats them with their own weapons. He uses the Scriptures as a two-edged sword, and when they argue with him he replies with Scriptural texts. He often repeats that the English are like Pharaoh and the Egyptians, and that the Zealanders are the oppressed Israelites'. From "Illustrated London News", 1845, Vol VII.